Sorghum is an important food crop in the dry areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. Grain yield is often constrained by low soil fertility, even in semi-arid areas. Farmer participatory research was conducted in three drought prone areas of Uganda to validate and fine-tune alternative strategies for soil fertility management for sorghum production. The strategies included: planting of herbaceous and grain legumes in improved fallow and in rotation with sorghum; application of low rates of kraal manure in combination with inorganic-N; and application of low levels of N and P fertilizers. Mucuna pruriens on average produced 7 Mg ha^-1 dry matter accumulating an average of 160 kg N ha^-1 across the three sites. There was a significant increase in sorghum grain yield in response to the alternative strategies. Mean grain yield was increased by 0.9 Mg ha^-1 above the farmer practice (0.8 Mg ha^-1 grain) with application of 2.5 Mg ha^-1 of kraal manure, and also with application of low levels of N and P. When of kraal manure was applied together with 30 kg N ha^-1, grain yield was increased by 1.6 Mg ha^-1. The increase in sorghum grain yield in response to preceding mucuna fallow and cowpea crop was 1.4 and 0.4 Mg ha^-1, respectively. These results verify these soil fertility management strategies for increasing sorghum yield in these predominantly smallholder low-input cropping systems.